Category Archives: ebooks

Before we get on to the free books, (yes, we said, FREE) did you know February 23rd is International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day? Oh, you didn’t? Well no matter, because Pam’s border terrier, Milly, won’t touch the things. Mind you, at 16 she’s allowed to be picky. Whereas Remy, Lorraine’s whoodle (wheaten terrier x poodle) much prefers bones although only if there are no varmints for the hunting. Anyway, here they are, pictured below, man’s best friend and certainly ours, although when Remy buries his blood-oozing bones in her bed and destroys the lawn tractor seat in search of a rat, Lorraine sometimes has her doubts.

Talking of dogs, friendship and bones, we’re madly excited to offer TWO mystery novels on a very limited free promotion: our very own When Good Friends Go Bad, a story of divorce, love and friendship (in which a scruffy mongrel happens to play a key role), and Julie Frayn’s dark, suspenseful and highly entertaining Pocketful of Bones. We also have Helen Smith’s Invitation To Die on sale for only 99 cents and a fantastic giveaway with a ton of Crime, Thriller and Suspense Novels to be won. Only available for a day or two so don’t miss out!

When Good Friends Go Bad

“Engaging story about the bonds of friendship stretching over 12 years, by the sister duo who gave us How to Survive Your Sisters.” The Bookseller Read Preview

Tomboy Jen, snobby Georgina, hippy Meg and gentle Rowan, were inseparable all through school until a childish prank gone wrong tore them apart. One attempted reunion in their twenties was a complete disaster, with Rowan failing to appear and the others vowing never to speak again. And yet, ten years later, while a depressed Jen is suffering through a painful divorce, Meg calls, wanting her former friends to track down the mysteriously vanished Rowan. As they search to find the truth about their missing friend, Jen, Meg and Georgina will test the bonds of love, loyalty and marriage, unearthing dark secrets, forbidden passions and a long-buried danger that threatens them all.

POCKETFUL OF BONES

“… a narrative that flows with often painful beauty.“ Rabid Reader’s Reviews

“The story is dark, suspenseful, at times funny, and even heart-breaking. The ending made me gasp out loud.“ April Wood, A Well Read Woman

Finnegan MacGillivray, red-haired, freckle-faced social pariah, finds solace in his mother’s garden while she entertains “dates” in his home. When an accident takes the life of a friend, Finnegan buries the evidence amid the purple dead nettle and bougainvillea, and unearths a treasure trove of human remains. Did his house rest atop an ancient burial ground? Or was there a killer tucking him into bed at night?

His fascination with bones grows as fast as his obsession with his mother. She rejects his advances, and he escapes to the other side of the country. Years later, he returns to his childhood home, to the secrets and the guilt and the bones — and to fulfil his destiny.

Invitation to Die (Emily Castles Mysteries)

Offbeat and engaging, this entertaining comic mystery is the first full-length novel featuring amateur British sleuth Emily Castles.

Twenty-six-year-old Emily Castles is out of work again. So when famous romance author Morgana Blakely offers her a job helping out at a conference in London, Emily accepts. Just as eagerly, American blogger Winnie Kraster accepts an invitation from Morgana to attend as a guest, not realizing she has, in effect, accepted an invitation to die. As a cast of oddball characters assembles at the conference hotel, grievances, differences, and secrets begin to emerge. When Winnie goes missing, and then is found murdered nearby, Emily begins to suspect that someone involved with the conference is responsible. Could it be one of the organizers, one of the authors, a member of the hotel staff, or even the supplier of the chocolates for the conference gift bags? Emily teams up with guest speaker and eccentric philosophy professor Dr. Muriel to find out.

Under the shadow of this week’s eclipse, we ponder life’s great mysteries. Why do multiple possessions vanish into a black hole the second Lorraine puts them down? Why after many gruelling fundraisers on her tandem, did Pam choose a cycling holiday in Germany when she could be lying on a beach? Why does Binkie, out of all Lorraine’s ten chickens, have her own Facebook page? Why did she and her fellow hens choose to lay her eggs next to a massive snake. Most worrying of all, where is that snake hiding now?

We may never know the answers to these questions but we do have a fabulous giveaway featuring some brilliant and extremely entertaining women sleuths.

Like this:

May madness brings prizes, promotions, a mega-giveaway and some crazy weather! Pam is basking in English sunshine while Lorraine and four horses shivered this weekend through a foot of snow dumped on Colorado after the driest mildest winter ever.

Meanwhile we’re packing for our next exciting destination, Costa Rica where we’ve planned some intensive explorations – searching for toucans and howler monkeys, along with the best beach, best national park, best zip-lining experience, best lethal cocktail – naturally, all done in the worthy and extremely professional goal of collaborating in some future Central American novel 🙂 And of course we’re bringing hubbies and Pam’s family along to, well, assist in the…ah-hem…hitherto-mentioned research and also because they refused to let us go without them.

And here are the promotions we promised.

For all Australian readers

Looking for La Lahas been chosen by Amazon to be in their Mother’s Day Sale. Price drop to AUS $1.49.

For all UK Readers

For those in the UK, both of these novels are on a 99 pence May Madness sale.

For readers in the US, here’s two new Amazon giveaways. Love, Lies & Other Deceptions, our brand new collection of short stories, and When Good Friends Go Bad, our chicklit romance. All you need do is follow us on Amazon for a chance to win – 22 winners!

Pam and I have been writing together as ‘Ellie Campbell’ for so long that sometimes even we forget we ever did things differently. Recently we rediscovered some of the 140 short stories we each had published in those early years and decided – huge shock – we actually found them really entertaining. So much so that we decided to gather some of them up into a collection. Between world travels, multiple changes of first stone age-style word processors, then computers, plus my inability to hold on to copies or the actual magazines, many are probably lost for good, but we managed to come up with twenty funny, romantic, twisty or reflective short tales, soon to be released as Love, Lies And Other Deceptions. It wasn’t easy to pick a cover to reflect so many diverse themes, but our talented designer Andrew Brown came up with the following. And here it is – ta-da, drum roll, please.

Happy January!

To start the year right, Lorraine downloaded a trial coupon for a health club because a friend was extolling the virtues of her boxing coach. The minute she walked through the door, she realized how much she hated gyms and working out, but one smooth operator later, she found herself signed up for 3 packs of 5 sessions each. Wish her luck!

She actually prefers her app Zombies Runwhere you get to “Run in the Real World and Become a Hero in Another”. Even if her run is more of a zombie shuffle it’s much more her cup of tea.

Pam meanwhile has taken up jogging, hates every minute, but is using a new app Couch to 5K. So far she’s only missed two days (snow in Surrey), and is hoping that if she keeps it up she might start enjoying it a few months down the line. Let’s see how long that lasts…

Another great giveaway from Authors XP! This time the genre is Romantic Suspense and it includes our very own When Good Friends Go Bad.

Three once inseparable friends in middle school begrudgingly unite as adults to track down the missing schoolfriend who disappeared from their lives years earlier. In the attempt loyalties will be tested, secrets exposed, first loves re-ignited and a very real danger faced by all.

Happy New Year! We have Amazon gift cards and mystery thrillers to be won, plus the cover reveal of our new Crouch End Confidential box set.

Hope you all enjoyed the holidays. Pam’s huge hints to her husband Ian for a blow heater (so she didn’t have to freeze her fingers off while working in the cold attic), didn’t come to fruition but she did get some great work-out gear. And the lovely Belgian chocolates she was given mysteriously disappeared before she could tuck into them. Something tells her that it could be a big hint from Ian that she needs to get fit before he allows her back on the tandem. We’ll see about that!

Lorraine had 30 guests over for Xmas dinner. Lots of drama when 90 mph winds took down the power lines and left her in the dark, searching for candles and wondering if she’d be serving half-raw turkey. Luckily her friends braved the gale force winds and the bird finished roasting on the barbecue grill. Lights and heat returned just in time to eat and before the indoor temperature plummeted to freezing. All agreed it was a Christmas miracle.

We made a few resolutions for 2017 but alas, we’ve already broken one of them. It’s now 10 days in and we still haven’t written up our super-duper new work schedule. SeeTake Five Authors blog

And now for the fun stuff:

Drum Roll, please! We proudly present our new cover reveal!

Yes, we finally decided to offer our three hilarious “Crouch End Confidential’ cozy mysteries, starring housewife sleuth, Cathy O’Farrell, as one box set with a smashing new cover. This will be published sometime this month. If you’d like to be kept informed of when it’s out, then follow us

on

or

and they’ll send you a new release update.

$400 Amazon vouchers in The Kindle Book Review New Year’s Giveaway!

Ring in an especially happy New Year by winning one of four $100 Amazon gift cards from the Kindle Book Review! Just click hereto enter.

Ends 15th January

Crime/Mystery Thriller Giveaway – 35+ books to be won

And now for this week’s Authors XP Giveaway which includes our very own Looking for La La.